unsung.nethttp://blog.unsung.net
dag's blog. a place to bury thoughts.Sun, 18 Nov 2018 04:41:02 +0000en-CAhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8http://blog.unsung.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/icon.pngunsung.nethttp://blog.unsung.net
3232There and Backhttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/11/06/there-and-back/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/11/06/there-and-back/#respondTue, 06 Nov 2018 16:39:30 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=18039This year’s pumpkin. It was supposed to be the Cheshire Cat but somehow ended up more twisted.

Last weekend we had a short but sweet trip up to Killaloe to visit Bdot’s parents and friends. We stayed only two nights – so it felt like a lot of driving – because it was. We rarely get up to the area, so it was certainly good to see everyone. Bdot tried her Chicken Tikka on her parents (who rarely if ever eat anything spicy) – and while I love the dish, ultimately, they did not. They did, however, enjoy the baked brussel sprouts – yes they don’t suck if you bake them. I updated her Dad’s “Kodi box”, which was an ordeal without a mouse. Her dad seemed pretty worn out the first day but was more himself the day we left.

While there we also visited her friend Trish at her massive property out in the sticks. She recently added a sauna – which we partook in – it was fabulous. It was fairly crappy weather, but we did a wet hike around her property anyway. It was a short visit. Only a few hours. It was better than not seeing them, but felt very whirlwind. They are coming down to our place this weekend for a visit.

We stopped for some photos of this wonderful view

Halloween was pretty uneventful. It was chilly with some misty rain… I think we got, maybe 40 kids. The dog did rock her denim however.

The Sabres stumble along with some impressive wins and head-scratching losses. Still, they are above .500, so no complaints, they are watchable most nights now.

I spent the last weekend with a few guys at Bill’s cottage, It was a typical boyz weekend. Poor behaviour, shoddy eating, booze and bucket loads of shenanigans. I met some new guys Jeff and JD. I quite enjoyed talking music with JD. He was really down to Earth and fun to hang with. It was a fun weekend. I was disappointed to miss hockey however.

School is marching along. I’m done my first composite website and have presented it to the class. I felt my site was one of the better ones in the class. I’m awaiting my marks.

Sabres are a few games ABOVE .500! Holy crap!

We are heading up to Killaloe tomorrow to visit bdot’s parents.

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/26/midterms/feed/0Getting Schooledhttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/16/getting-schooled/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/16/getting-schooled/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 16:15:54 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=18025Golden Fall Path
I guess it has been a while since I blogged. Hmm. School has been keeping me busy and Fall weekends are often abuzz with activity – so the blog gets neglected.

My major (midterms) are due next Thursday. The main project is to create a website. I’m already essentially done it. Sure, there will be a fair bit of tweaking, but all the heavy lifting is already done. So far I’m doing well in the program and it is ramping into interesting, uncharted territory for my brain.

Our friend Buck finally got released from the hospital last weekend. He was in for close to two weeks with a potentially serious GI issue. We decided to visit him last Sunday. It was a beautiful Fall day. We drove out to the area around the Wutai Shan Buddist Temple that is slowing being pieced together from China. It looks like a massive project. There are a few beautiful idols and the framework for the main temple completed. We walked along a path that skirts the edge of the property.A guardian you won’t mess with…
We weren’t entirely sure what this mythological beast was as we approached it. From the back, it looked like a horse… once you came around to the front, however, it was clearly a dragon. There is (what looks like) a woman riding the dragon side-saddle. I couldn’t find any other information about this individual – I think a Bodhisattva? I assume it says what is depicted on the plaque I can’t read?Whoa. Awesome.

Ball hockey remains fun. I played in both games last week and scored my first goal in the league. Our team won! Apparently, we are getting jerseys!

Bdot and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary last week. Plans didn’t fire as planned, but we enjoyed some tasty, fiery, Indian and Solo at home relaxing for the evening. I thought Solo was pretty fun. Maybe not the best depiction of the legendary character, but certainly a fun film. The Han/Chewy meeting scene was awesome. It ended up being a lovely night at home.

…at home where the furnace died AGAIN. It got down to the low 60s. Heat was restored Monday after a service call. Sigh. It is good all this work is being done under warranty. We have windows going in tomorrow!

UPDATE!
WOO! Upgraded laptop from 8G RAM to…. 20G! I’ll have to play with it for a while to see what happens. Sabres tonight on the West Coast. LVK.

Oh and Pot is now legal in Canada. I’m pretty indifferent. I’ve never really had a good time with it so… *shrug* Whatever.

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/16/getting-schooled/feed/0Hockey means Painhttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/01/hockey-means-pain/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/01/hockey-means-pain/#respondTue, 02 Oct 2018 00:18:00 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=18016Not you again…
So, bdot coerced me into playing ball hockey again. It is a co-ed rec, non-contact, just-for-fun league. We had our first game last Friday. Unfortunately, the games are pretty late, starting at 8:30pm and 9:30pm. Also, the sticks are those horrible plastic *kids* sticks with no rigidity at all. So, your expected shot is not often your shot… That all said. It is a lot fun. It is a great group of people (so far) men and women with a fairly diverse age group. I’ve played hockey for a long time with a “proper” stick so I made some critical gaffs when I attempted hard, long shots. I may look into getting a stiffer ball hockey stick on Friday. We may even get jerseys! Hopefully, we get a full team out – I desperately need the subs.

Thornton Bales Conservation Area
In spite of having legs that felt like cut lumber we ventured to a new conservation area outside of Aurora. We found Thornton Bales Conservation Area to be a hidden gem. It is a lovely park. The trails are quite wide, although fairly poorly marked.

Our friend Buck continues to linger in the hospital. Hopefully he gets the attention he needs soon, apparently, he is having a difficult time.

School continues to trudge along. I had an in-class coding exam last Thursday. I got hung up on one small part of the exam… I pondered it for hours but couldn’t get it. Sigh. I looked at it the next day and figured it out within 15m.

Bdot is away on business in San Diego. It sounds like long days with some rewarding professional contacts.

My sister got another dog, she has named Willow. I guess we will meet her (?) next weekend.

Ha. I’ve played a few games of Fortnite to see what all the fuss is about. It is pretty cool… I was playing a Battle Royale. What wasn’t overly clear to me the first few times I played – was how to determine who was on my side. (Yes – I now get teams and parties.) I’m finding it hard to get decent weapons. I’ve had a sniper rifle once and I’ve never found rockets. Hmmpt. It is a huge difference than older Doom and Quake PvP… I’m getting next to no frags now. *snort*

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/10/01/hockey-means-pain/feed/080 Meatballs and 2 Trailshttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/24/80-meatballs-and-2-trails/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/24/80-meatballs-and-2-trails/#respondMon, 24 Sep 2018 14:57:49 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=18009 McCarston’s Lake Side Trail (where the photo was taken) > Lookout Trail > Carriage Side Trail. It is always a nice hike at Mono Cliffs. Sunday we got up and did meal prep for the week. You don’t want to come home and have to start dinner from scratch. We made a mountain of meatballs which we put over roasted spaghetti squash which has become one of our favourite dinners. Yesterday we biked the the Trans Canada Trail from Gore […]]]>Me and my dog at Mono Cliffs
Sometimes plans change and you have to roll with what you get. Bdot originally planned on going to the Spa in Collingwood with BBB. Unfortunately, BBB’s husband had some sudden UI issues that required him to go to the ER. (He has since been released and returned to the ER and had surgery (!) – he is out and resting now) So we changed gears and got outside both Saturday and Sunday in the beautiful Fall weather. Saturday we drove to Orangeville (where we keep talking about moving to…) and Bdot ran a few errands (visited the Farmers’ market, got a coffee) then we ventured over to Mono Cliffs PP. We did a loop starting on 2nd Line E > McCarston’s Lake Side Trail (where the photo was taken) > Lookout Trail > Carriage Side Trail. It is always a nice hike at Mono Cliffs.

Sunday we got up and did meal prep for the week. You don’t want to come home and have to start dinner from scratch. We made a mountain of meatballs which we put over roasted spaghetti squash which has become one of our favourite dinners.We made meatballs

Biking
Yesterday we biked the the Trans Canada Trail from Gore Road to Tottenham. One way was about 15km. It is a shame the trail is road north of Tottenham. The trail was full of cyclists. I saw a fox. Sadly while biking a squirrel ran out in front of the bike. I dinged at it, and it froze, at the last second it decided to make a break for it right into my path. It did not fare well. So, don’t ding at squirrels. They get confused. The sound of breaking on gravel seemed to work better. Unreal.

I played some Fortnite for the first time. What a curious game. It took me several rounds just to figure out who the enemy was. (I think there are some serious UI issues with the game) Yes, I’m awful at it too. I don’t think I have a single frag after 10 or so rounds. It is pretty addictive. I do see the attraction, and it is free…

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/24/80-meatballs-and-2-trails/feed/0Schools in….http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/22/schools-in/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/22/schools-in/#respondSun, 23 Sep 2018 01:21:49 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=18004Mad talent. *cough*
I’m getting into the swing of class again. I’m also already getting into new coding territory, so clearly I’ll be learning a lot. The coding teacher is great and really wants to add as much content as he can. Which is great. I’ve already handed in some assignments with more next week. School is just going to become busier and busier.
The silly melonhead above is from a Photoshop selection exercise. It may look silly, but it was actually an excellent lesson on selection tool use. Finally being formally taught some Photoshop is awesome.The reality of my surroundings
The small lab where I’ll be spending most of the next several months. I was late for a class and some keener new student took the seat I’ve sat in all year. Sigh. So… I’ve moved to the back row. *shrug* Traffic on Thursday was ridiculous. It took me close to 2hr to get to class. Highway 27 was backed up for blocks. It seems like it had something to do with the 407 and the on-ramp being closed. What a nightmare drive that was. I’ve tried a bunch of routes and Langstaff coming home is good but getting there in the morning efficiently is proving to be impossible.

Wow. Ottawa got hammered with a tornado. It looks like a few streets got bombed. I read over 100k people are without power. Phew.

We had a nice hike in Mono Cliffs today. Bdot was suppose to go to the Spa with BBB, but Buck was having some GI issues and had to go to Emerge. He is okay but will require surgery.

Bard’s Tale IV came out last week. I kickstarted it ages ago. So far I’m enjoying it. It has some issues but the gameplay is fun.

Typhoon (which is the Eastern term for hurricane – they are the same thing) Mangkhut was waaaay more intense than Florance… but overall, it sure seems Humans are getting rocked by more and more powerful and destructive storms. But there is no global warming right? *eyeroll*

We were lucky this weekend to have access to my SiL’s cottage on Glouster Bay. (I call it Chateaû Glouster). It was an incredibly hot few days! One of the main reasons for going was for Bdot to check out a Catalina 11.4 SUP at Swift Canoe. After checking it out, unfortunately, we found a ton of air bubbles under the paint… These would eventually blister and pop and the paint would peel. This was pretty disappointing, we had cash in hand to buy it, but decided to pass. That didn’t deter us from getting on the water this weekend. We still have an iSUP and there is a kayak at the cottage, so we made due.It was a beautiful weekend
We did a lot of paddling over the weekend. And took a ton of photos. When we weren’t on the water we were chilling on the deck. I’m reading my way through Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire which I’m really enjoying. The deck was under constant bombardment from acorns. You can hear them smash off everything. They seemed to drop every 5-10m… or more often when crows were knocking them down. Google found us a nice route avoiding most of the 400 below Barrie, it was Concession 11 > 15th sideroad > 56 > 90 > George Johnson Road > 26 > Doran Road > Russell > Forbes > 400…A good portion of this route is also newly paved!

Spooky. No not the seagulls…
Both mornings were greeted with incredible fog. I tried to make a time lapse of the fog but the apps for Android are crap. Really crap. They are either unusable or were too restrictive to accomplish what I wanted. Wah-wah.

Sabres first pre-season game is tonight. As always, (sigh…) the hope tank has been refilled during the offseason. Hopefully this season the team will improve. Hard not to from dead last. *snort* The Bills look like they are back to their losing ways… TFC won but it is probably too little too late.

I’m enjoying class. I can foresee it really ramping up once it enters into new areas for me… which is going to be very soon.

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/17/here-im-rock-you-like-a/feed/0!DOCTYPE htmlhttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/10/doctypehtml/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/10/doctypehtml/#respondMon, 10 Sep 2018 21:38:31 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=17986J118. Where I’m ALL the time…Yes, I’ll get some better photos of the room and campus.

Well, my first week back to college is in the books. It was both interesting, inspiring and stressful. The stress was mainly dealing with the many unknowns. Parking, traffic, taking the bus, fellow students. teachers… etc… The parking and bus were fine. There is tons of space in “E” lot and the bus comes every 15m, dropping us off in front of the main building. That seems to work out fine. To clear my head at the end of the day I like to walk back. I’ve tried a few routes and walking along HWY 27 seems to be the most efficient route. My classmates (all WAY younger – of course) have been welcoming and intelligent. Where Sheridan was really WASPy, Humber is very multicultural. Curiously so… The Profs were all very good. I really like the coding prof and the design prof, wow, he was like an ADD kid on cocaine. I expect I’ll learn a lot from them – they all seem to have excellent experience in the field. So far it has been mainly recapping what I know, but being taught it formally, there are little pieces here and there that are new to me. I’m looking forward to the rest of the program.

Hutch!

Yesterday, we drove up to Barrie then my sister’s to watch their dog for the afternoon. We took advantage of the time to run some errands in Barrie and to get a Mountain bike ride in. We biked in a new area recommended by my BiL. It was just a few minutes from their home. We biked the “black” and “red” Hutchison-Brown trail. I found it quite challenging, it was very narrow, really rooty and it was easy to get unseated. Still, any ride is good exercise. My calf muscle is killing me today.

My new buddy!

Once back at my sister’s, we were mobbed by her three cats. The biggest beast seems starved for attention and followed me all over the house. Her dog is getting old and was pretty chilled out most of the afternoon.

I’m using my Gallium OS converted Chromebook for class notes. It is the lightest and has the best battery life. It is working out pretty good so far. I WISH IT HAD BACK LIGHTING! GRR.

In Ontario Politics, a judge shut down Ford idiot, revenge move to reduce Toronto councillors. He doubled down on his stupidity today and threatened to use the not-withstanding clause. Gawd, what a buffoon.

BRR. We turned the heat on for the first time today. (And yet by the weekend it is suppose to be 30C again. *eyeroll*)

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/10/doctypehtml/feed/0Time Well Wastedhttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/03/time-well-wasted/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/03/time-well-wasted/#respondTue, 04 Sep 2018 00:38:57 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=17977Yes, that is bdot behind the um flamingo…
Saturday was a busy day that started off early. We drove up to the Collingwood area intending to look at some Stand-Up-Paddleboards at the Blu Wave end of season sale. Bdot is happy with her Catalina 11.4 but the opportunity to upgrade to a much newer model for (potentially) a few hundred bucks was quite appealing. We also grabbed a Catalina 12.6 iSUP for us to use. We liked the idea of its portability (we found later that it had metal loops right on the board so it was MUCH easier to transport/tie-down to the roof of a car inflated) and to have a second board so we could be on the water together. Unfortunately, there was only one new Catalina 11.4 for sale, and it was being loaded into a car by a very happy buyer as we pulled into Blu Wave’s lot. Ho-Hum. The iSUP was an easy sell but bdot was tempted by some of the other SUPs still remaining. We came VERY close to leaving with the Catalina 12.6… but after reflection, bdot REALLY wanted to find a 11.4 solution that worked. (Ha, but we still left with two SUPs anyway, as she bought one for a friend) Today she sold her Catalina 11.4. We are still debating about getting another board (she would like to get a newer 11.4) or just make do with one board. TBD…
We spent the rest of the day at Little River Beach Park. Most of the parks along 26 were expectedly rammed. We lucked into finding this cute little park with water access, a small beach, and washrooms! It was a great place to test out the new iSUP. I really enjoyed it. It handles soooo much nicer than the Apsley Rec board I tried earlier this Summer. The day was made perfect with Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream and Indian take out. Mmm.

Yesterday we trekked into the Sun’s burning heat to met my sister and BiL at IKEA. In the morning, before venturing out, we enjoyed a Mountain Bike ride in Palgrave. It was an oddly planned day. We saw them at IKEA for a few minutes then they were gone. *shrug* We found a few household organizational items. I scored two LED desk lights and an ottoman.

It turns out the OUYA was a huge disappointment. And while the hardware could (might?) still be useful, the little box is locked down to prevent easily installing a potential new, useful OS over it. I tried (Android) and tried (Linux) however…
The Debian (Linux) installed failed because the Tegra 3 Driver listed in the install doc (dpkg -i tegra30-r16_3-*_armhf.deb) could not be found. (Yes, got nearly to the end of the process then no final, most important driver to be found…) SIGH. The Android 5.0 install failed much earlier with a problem I’ve had many, many times before… with the USB/Android driver (android_winusb.inf) failing. It NEVER works. So it was a big run around for nothing. I was able to install zippo, nil, nothing useful on the OUYA. Sigh. I wasn’t expecting awesome, but connecting it to a TV via HDMI to play music or something would have been cool. I would be a nice, portable device… Maybe someone will figure out an easier way to install an OS in the future. I guess it goes back to the crawlspace.

This beauty was captured by my Mom at KK’s visitation. A small ray of light on that dark day…
Miss you buddy.

Oh. And I’m returning to full-time school tomorrow for the first time in a decade. Phew. Humber. Hmm….

]]>http://blog.unsung.net/2018/09/03/time-well-wasted/feed/0Only memorieshttp://blog.unsung.net/2018/08/31/only-memories/
http://blog.unsung.net/2018/08/31/only-memories/#respondFri, 31 Aug 2018 17:46:51 +0000http://blog.unsung.net/?p=17970We had to stop for gas after the Visitation, the clouds were particularly bright…
So my friend’s visitation was Wednesday. It was a really difficult day. My Mom drove up as she has known Kirk for decades. Seeing his wife, Mom and Sister was especially hard and emotional. Seeing the pain of the people that loved him the most was anguishing. But there is some solace there as well…
The day would have taken a much heavier toll without my supportive wife and friends. My awkward, strange, inappropriate and awesome friends who are capable of turning the worst situation into something tolerable. A special thank you to Captain who has stepped up and checked in. Words cannot express my gratitude. We heard some stories from his roommate Derek who was pretty broken up as well.

Afterwards, we shared dinner at Earl’s (which was okay at best) but the time together to talk, decompress and refocus was invaluable.

I don’t think I’ll be lucky enough to have such a good friend again in my life. One who connected on so many levels, with some many shared interested that was always available to chat with. We had so many good times. Sadly, I’m only left with memories.